Editorial: Ventura County Jewel

To donate to FOOD Share's holiday food drive, make checks out to FOOD Share and mail them to FOOD Share 4156 N. South Bank Road, Oxnard CA 93036; or donations can be made online at http://www.foodshare.com. Food donations are also accepted at Vons markets. For more information, call 983-7100.

Jewel Pedi is aptly named. She is one of the founders of the county food bank — FOOD Share — a group that started 30 years ago in garages and now feeds nearly 40,000 people a month.

It is hard to imagine a more rewarding career, a hunch that is confirmed by seeing Ms. Pedi, always with a beaming smile, at work at FOOD Share, where she has served in many different capacities. Just how much she loves her work is evident in her reluctance to retire, a decision she announced last week. She plans to move closer to her children, to Bullhead, Ariz., where she says she will perform weddings as a pastor and look for a new challenge.

Ms. Pedi leaves FOOD Share in excellent shape, with new Chief Executive Officer Bonnie Weigel. The work that began with volunteers gleaning crops from county agricultural fields to feed the homeless has expanded to an enormous facility in Oxnard that collects and distributes food through hundreds of community pantries countywide.

FOOD Share is in the spotlight during the holiday season, especially this one, as the number of people needing help is growing. The work continues, thanks in large part, to the efforts of Ms. Pedi.